Past Tense

Past Tense:

A. Simple past tense: Active- (S+V2+O), Passive (O+was/were+v3….)

• A completed action in past
• An action that happened at a specific time in the past
• A series of past events.

(yesterday, last night/ last week/ last year, ago, in 2020, then)

B. Past continuous tense: Active (S+was/were+v4+O), Passive (O+was/were+being+v3…)

• An action that was ongoing at a particular time in the past
• A background action interrupted by another action (when/while)
• Action in progress at a specific past time (v2 with was/were+v4) simple past- sudden action, past continuous- longer action
• Two simultaneous actions

(while, when, at that time, all day/ all night)

C. Past perfect tense: Active (S+had+v3+O), Passive (O+had been+v3….)

• An action that happened before another past action
• The earlier past
  – The train had left before we reached the station.
• Past of the past
• Cause and effect in the past
  – he was tired because he had worked all night.
• Reported speech in form of experiences. (lifetime experiences and achievements are expressed in present perfect (s+has/have+v3+O))

(before, after, already, by the time)

D. Past perfect continuous tense: (S+had been+v4+O)

• The duration before past
• An action that started in the past and continued up to another past point… (How long..?)
  – I had been reading for an hour when he came.
  – She had been teaching for ten years before she retired
• Cause of a past situation
  – He was exhausted because he had been running.

(for, since, before, all day/ all night)

a. Before and After

In before and after first action should be written in past perfect and the second action in simple past

b. When and While (2 events of past happened in same time in different manner)

When agrees with simple past whereas while agrees with past continuous

c. When and As soon as (2 events of past happened in two different time)

When/As soon as + simple past, simple past. (No time gap)

When/As soon as + past perfect, simple past. (Time gap)

# if the second action is happened with the time gap first action must be past perfect

Exercise:

Rewrite the following sentences correcting the mistakes.

Example: Did you ever see her before you met her at school?
                 – Had you ever seen her before you met her at school?

1. She played the flute and then she had sung in their choir.
2. I borrowed Rima’s car. Had you known about it?
3. After the lesson had finished, we run out of school.
4. Had you be there? – Yes, the previous year.
5. Did you liked my article published in the Himalayan Times yesterday?
6. I recognized him because I saw him before.
7. I hadn’t gone out because I hadn’t finished my homework.
8. We had done nothing like this at that time.
9. It was quite difficult. I had had no idea what to do.
10. As far as I’d known, she had always had some pets.
11. When I met Jim, he was already a soldier for three years.
12. He had gone to the coffee because somebody had told him.
13. Did you finished the assignment before the teacher arrived?
14. She had left the office and then she had called her friend.
15. When we reached the station, the train already left.
16. I was knowing the answer, but I didn’t say anything.
17. Had you went to Pokhara before you moved there permanently?
18. He didn’t knew that the program had already started.
19. By the time we arrived, they ate all the food.
20. She was living in Kathmandu since 2015 before she shifted to Biratnagar.
21. If I knew about the meeting yesterday, I would have attended it.
22. He was very tired because he worked all night.
23. I had completed my homework and had submitted it yesterday.
24. Did she had finished the report before the deadline?
25. After he had wrote the letter, he went to the post office.
26. We didn’t went anywhere because it was raining.
27. When I was a child, I would be very shy.
28. She told that she is feeling sick yesterday.
29. He must went home early because the lights were off.
30. The teacher asked if we finished the project.
31. I had been waiting for him since two hours when he finally arrived.
32. It’s high time we lefted the place.
33. No sooner did he had entered the room than everyone stood up.
34. Scarcely we had reached home when it started to rain.
35. She acted as if she has known the truth all along.
36. I wish I studied harder last year.
37. He was going to call you yesterday, but he forget.